What’s Going On?

#131 July 2005

ALONG THE WAY

Our circumstances are in balance to our inner state because Spirit acts on our inner state.

THIS MONTH’S THOUGHT

To know the future would be a painful hell.

SCIENCE OF MAN       Lesson Eleven 

(Continued from last month)

We have suggested that there are four possible forces in the world.  Initiative: something I do.  Something one wants to originate. And then there is resistance always against that, whether it be gravity, whether it be distance, whether it be weather, whether it be someone, whether it is a given event. So, second force comes along to obstruct in some way, resist what the origination was. But, without this second force there would be no strength, no power. It is the same as if you tried to mold a ceramic dish without a mold of resistance to pour the liquid ceramic in so it could harden into the shape one wanted.  Then, one would have a form.  So, with initiative and resistance comes about a form.  And then the form provides a use. So, we have four forces:  initiative, resistance (which may be either active or passive), then the form, and then the result.  Now most of us see all second forces as something frustrating, something that interfered with the ideal of things being like I wanted them to be, like they ought to be, like they should be.  And, of course, second force is seen as misfortune, as evil, as something bad, as bad luck and of course, the person resists that second force and thinks it ought to be without it. And, of course, this is one of the things that brings about the idea of what ought to be, the ideal.

Now, another ideal that one would probably have is that one should know the future.  And then one could make all manner of preparations and could avoid every unpleasant situation.  But, if you know the future, the future is complete and includes ones self. You see then if one could know the future, that a given accident was going to occur, one would have to go ahead and do it. Otherwise one only knows probabilities, and don’t we already know probabilities?  There is a probability that if I take up thieving as a means of livelihood, there is a very high degree of probability that I will be apprehended in thieving and thrown in prison.  One would say that one knows the future?  No, but one has a high degree of probability. Now, if I knew the future, that I would thieve, and that I would get caught, and that I would be thrown in prison, then that would have to go ahead.  I couldn’t stop it because, otherwise, I would not know the future. I would only know the probability.  Frequently we hear someone in a given situation, they’ve been tied up in a snowstorm on the highway or something, and they say, “If I had know this, I wouldn’t have left home.”  But, if they would have known it, they would have had to leave home and they would have gone on.  So one of the ideals of what is good would be to know the future.  But, possibly, if we re-evaluated that ‘good’ and looked at it, we would see that to know the future would be the most painful hell anyone could ever experience.  From the day you were born, you knew exactly every event that was going to happen and you knew exactly when it was going to happen and all the circumstances about it. You could do nothing to stop it or nothing to speed it up or nothing to slow it down. You would merely be a movie that you had already seen in advance and the movie was going to be run again. Could you imagine any more horrifying existence?

So, we have seen that what is:  that we do not know the future.  But, we have seen that as bad.  That we ought to be able to know the future and then of course only giving it a casual look, we felt we could change the future.  But, if one could foresee a given event, and then change it, one was not knowing the future.

So, what is, is living by reporting ‘what is’ to X and seeing ‘what is’ as good, or valuable or worthwhile.  And X operates upon it. In this way, man recognizes his oneness with X, with Spirit.  If he could foresee and could change the future and change all the events in it, he would have no comprehension of X.  He would never realize his oneness with X, that he was a function of X. So, ‘what is’ is so designed by an almighty, loving creator that one would be given every opportunity to discover one’s oneness with X. because one never knows the future.  But regardless of what happens, if one sees ‘what is’ and sees its value, X operates upon it, and one sees that one does not need to know the future.  That everything is an ever-changing, ever-loving panoramic of change.  And one could be comfortable with change, comfortable with the unknown and recognize the oneness with X, the union with X.  If one could do what the ideal says, the what ought to be, what one has valued, one would be in a horrible state of existence.  The most boring, the most tedious, the most fretful form anyone could be in. One would see the whole panoramic future and see everything and know that it was coming.  You know on a given day you’re going to get burned.  You know on a given day you’re going to receive news that a loved one has passed away.  There’s nothing you can do.  You know the future.  Wouldn’t that be horrible?  (To be continued next month)

A STORY

Once in awhile an “AHA” will sweep me off my feet.  This happened a couple weeks ago when IT finally came into focus.

Dr. Bob said many times that we blame, complain, stick up for our rights, etc, in order to get our way.  I agree with this totally.  However, the fact is that any time I have an inner glitch such as anger, resentment, irritability, fear, envy, guilt, fear, jealousy, feel like a victim, whine, feel tense, impatient and on and on, I am not getting my way (or didn’t get it or may not get it). I started watching this with gusto. Guess what?  It’s true for me.

I was waiting in the grocery line ready to be checked out.  The customer and the checker were having a chatty conversation.  The longer they talked the more impatient and judgmental I became.  Then I saw IT.  I was not getting my way.  The second I saw IT the mood changed.  I laughed hysterically.

When I left the womb and entered the earth world, no one promised that everything would go my way.  In fact, Dr. Bob suggests that we use a 25/75 percent formula.  If 25% of the day goes my way, I am very fortunate.  The other 75% probably won’t go my way so just toss it in the 75% bin and go on without accumulating destructive emotions over it.

The Teachings define surrender as “ceasing to think I know what ought to be.”  Hmmm.  But I stomp my little feet when things (people, self) are different from what I think ought to be.   I will continue to work with this and I plan to make it FUN and laugh at the self when I see how often I want my way.  If I don’t make it fun, I have come in the back door to think I know what ought to be.

IDEAS TO WORK WITH

(Excerpts from Little America Workshop April 1974)

1. The conditioning is inner talking. You may call it thoughts.  It always has with it an emotion.  Basically that emotion is anger, guilt, fear insecurity, which never miss an opportunity to aggravate us.
2. We have been given a tremendously valuable gift—ESSENCE. But we have never opened the package.  The gift is that we can choose how we will see all that we sense.
3. It is a privilege to be the awareness function of spirit. Whatever this awareness function says is of first value, X operates on.
4. The minute anything is judged as good or bad we have anxiety. If it’s good, it’s important to hang on to it.  If it’s bad, it’s important to get rid of it.
5. Bugs can’t grow and multiply in us unless we have sick, weakened tissue because we have been going around in various states of anxiety.
6. It’s non-survival to eat for taste instead of for hunger.
7. We are constantly kept ‘out of time’ by thoughts. They keep us away from NOW.
8. We have people who are struggling to be conscious. It’s no trouble to be aware of what is going on this moment.  We can’t be conscious the rest of our life.  We can’t be conscious tomorrow.  Now is the only time we can do it. The thoughts will try to get us to become some ideal—to have it all the time.
9. Anything we make important is an ideal.
10. Everything is experienced as we choose to see it. If we see ourselves as “sick, lonely, tired, old”—that is what we will experience

SYMPTOMS OF INNER PEACE

1. The tendency to think and act spontaneously rather than from fear based on past experience.
2. An unmistaken ability to enjoy each moment
3. Loss of interest in judging other people.
4. Loss of interest in interpreting the action of others
5. Loss of interest in conflict
6. Loss of ability to worry.
7. Loss of interest in judging self.
8. Frequent, overwhelming episodes of gratitude.
9. Contented feelings of connectedness with others and nature.
10. Frequent attacks of smiling through the eyes from the heart.
11. Increasing tendency to let things happen rather than make them happen.
12. Being awake to what is within.
13. Being awake to what is around.
14. Wondering without despair about what is behind it all.

Life is sexually transmitted

Healthy is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.